Covert Underwater Acoustics in the Spotlight

08 September 2006

Dennis Jones, a Defence Scientist at DRDC Atlantic, opened DRDC's Valcartier Science & Technology Matinées series with a presentation on covert underwater acoustics for submarine operations and coastal surveillance systems.

Mr. Jones' presentation, entitled Indigenous Signals for Clandestine Naval Operations, focused on stealthy echo-ranging and communications and included descriptions of his patented barrel-stave transducer technology, a portable broadband transmitter and various surveillance/receiving platforms that have been used in his experiments.

He also presented results from trials in deep water off the Scotian Shelf and in the shallow waters of Halifax Harbour, the Bay of Fundy, the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico.

Six years ago, while testing new equipment for this project in the Bedford Basin of Nova Scotia, Mr. Jones unexpectedly encountered HMCS Onondaga surfacing from a dive near his research site. With permission from the submariners on board, he photographed the vessel on 26 July 2000. This unique photograph marks the final dive of HMCS Onondaga before being decommissioned on 28 July 2000. While it was an end to a proud era of Canadian Oberon-Class submarine history, his rendezvous with HMCS Onondaga was also the inspiration that steered Mr. Jones into the direction of clandestine operations.